Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Content

Overall funding of continuing vocational training in Germany 

Continuing vocational training in Germany compared to other countries: Current situation and future challenges arising from demographic trends and changes in the working world 

Continuing training participation and selectivity

Segmentation of continuing vocational training in Germany 

Conditions for lifelong learning 

Continuing vocational training that is regulated under collective agreements

Regional training networks

Top of the page

Overall funding of continuing vocational training in Germany

A comprehensive survey of how much is currently being spent altogether in Germany for continuing vocational training and how this expenditure is broken down between funding sources would be enormously difficult to conduct.⁰³ Actually, it would be impossible to add up the funding sources' individual expenditures. On the one hand, we do not have a current, shared reference year for the individual expenditures that have been determined. On the other hand, spending effected by the government and the Federal Employment Agency cannot be directly compared with the costs borne by enterprises and individuals who participate in continuing training measures due to the differences between public-sector and commercial accounting systems. However, in order to get a picture of the scale of total expenditure, the following section will ignore these legitimate caveats.

Expenditure on continuing vocational training

Quelle: Beicht, U.; Berger, K.; Moraal D. (2005): Aufwendungen für berufliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland. In: Sozialer Fortschritt, Heft 10-11/2005, S. 264

Estimates place total expenditure on continuing vocational training at € 35 billion.⁰⁴ Based on this, enterprises accounted for nearly half of the financial burden arising from continuing vocational training, followed by private individuals and then by the public sector which, at first glance, pays for only a comparatively small share of the cost of continuing vocational training. However, a number of things indicate that this breakdown does not adequately reflect the actual distribution of this expenditure between the individual funding sources.

The share attributed to enterprises⁰⁵ also includes the full cost of lost working hours. As a result, it must be assumed that the estimated continuing vocational training costs borne by enterprises - some € 7 billion - is too high. In light of this, we will assume for the purpose of our examination of the distribution of continuing vocational training costs that only 50% of the calculated costs of lost working hours (staff time costs) can be regarded as real costs that arise in connectionwith continuing vocational training. Also to be taken into consideration is the fact that continuing vocational training costs can be claimed as an operating expense for tax purposes and can thus be refinanced through the resulting reduction in taxes. Here we shall assume an average marginal tax rate of 30% for calculating a rough estimate of the share that is refinanced through this tax deduction. ⁰⁶

Since private individuals⁰⁷, can also claim occupation-related continuing education costs as an income-related expense on their income tax return, we will use the above method here as well. A further assumption is that only two-thirds of the individuals participating in continuing education measures (can) take advantage of this tax break. The tax benefit for private individuals or companies translates into a corresponding reduction in the government's tax receipts - which must be viewed as indirect funding when calculating the government's expenditure on continuing vocational training.

The share of expenses attributed to the Federal Employment Agency⁰⁸ must also be adjusted. For example, the full amount of the benefits (maintenance allowances) paid by the agency cannot be counted as a continuing vocational training expense. The figure for the Federal Employment Agency's training-related expenditure should be lowered because workers who are entitled to benefits from the Federal Employment Agency would receive them even if they did not participate in the continuing vocational training programmes. The Institute for Employment Research calculated that training accounted for 16.9% of maintenance allowances paid in the reference year 1999. Continuing vocational training-related expenditures for training measures for disabled individuals must also be added to the Federal Employment Agency's expenditures. The last time this training-related share was reported was in 2001. When we apply the 36% share from the year 2001 to the corresponding expenditures made in the year 2004 (€ 2.9 billion), the expenditure for the occupational integration of disabled individuals amounted to approximately € 1 billion in 2004.

The considerations put forward here were taken into account in another estimate in order to better approximate the actual distribution of the burden of continuing training expenditure between the individual funding sources: Although private enterprises and the public sector are responsible for an enormous monetary share of the mixed financing the goes into continuing vocational training, the brunt of the financial burden - currently 38% - is borne by the individuals who attend continuing vocational training measures.⁰⁹ 

Funding continuing vocational training - estimated shares* in per cent of the costs borne by the government, Federal Employment Agency, enterprises and individuals

* These figures are based on a rough estimate of the government's shortfall in tax revenue and of the reduced financial burden borne by private persons and enterprises arising from the tax breaks granted them for continuing vocational training expenditure. They also estimate the real, indirect vocational training costs of enterprises as being 50% of the staff time costs used for CVTS 2.    
Quelle: Beicht, U.; Berger, K.; Moraal D. (2005): Aufwendungen für berufliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland. In: Sozialer Fortschritt, Heft 10-11/2005, S. 264

Top of the page

Continuing vocational training in Germany compared to other countries: Current situation and future challenges arising from demographic trends and changes in the working world

Comparative European data¹⁰ on the situation¹¹ of continuing vocational training reveals differences between EU Member States with comparable socio-economic structures: Continuing vocational training in Germany is in a markedly worse position than it is, for example, in the Scandinavian countries, France or the Netherlands.

Mention must be made here of a striking paradox which applies not only to continuing education and training in general but also to continuing vocational training in

enterprises: The Special Eurobarometer survey on European employment and social policy in 2006¹² indicated that although 62% of the respondents agreed with the statement that "regular training improves one's job opportunities," only 23% of the population in Germany between the ages of 15 and 64¹³ had attended a continuing education course during the preceding 12 months. In addition, 50% of the respondents felt that "regular training for people at work is a very effective measure" for "getting more people into work and staying at work longer in their life".

In the area of continuing vocational training in enterprises - the most important field of continuing vocational training and one of the primary means for ensuring the ongoing updating of workers' skills to trade and industry's changing needs - Germany is also to be found midfield in the rankings. The Second European Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS 2 - 1999)¹⁴ shows that Germany ranks in the middle of the field of 25 participating countries¹⁵ (placing 9th) with regard to the share of training enterprises (firms that conduct continuing training courses). Not only does the amount of access to continuing training courses fall short of the European average (Germany ranks 16th in this category), Germany is at the lower end of the scale (22nd place) when it comes to training intensity. Despite this, the direct costs for vocational training measures in enterprises is rather high (5th in the rankings). Although Germany ranks high (4th place) in the offering of "conventional" job-related forms of in-company continuing vocational training, it places in the lower ranks of the 25 participating countries with regard to its offerings of "modern" job-related forms of continuing vocational training in enterprises, holding 20th place in the category exchange programmes and/or job rotation and 12th place in the categories learning groups/quality-improvement groups and self-learning.

In addition, when compared to other countries, Germany's internal structures exhibit little systemisation - in other words, professionalisation of continuing vocational training in enterprises - in terms of, for example, assessing demand, planning continuing training, drawing up a continuing training budget and performing evaluation activities:
 

• At 42%, Germany ranks 14th in conducting training needs analyses for individual workers;
• In ascertaining the individual enterprise's future personnel requirements and/or training needs Germany ranks 23rd with 24%;
• Germany ranks 14th in the planning of continuing vocational training with 22%;
•  It ranks 13th in the use of a specific budget for continuing vocational training in enterprises with 17%.
  

Four per cent of enterprises have an internal initial and continuing vocational training centre that is also used for continuing training (16th place). Forty-four per cent of enterprises said that they systematically review their continuing vocational training courses to determine whether they are successful (9th place).

Conclusion: This means that German enterprises concentrate their in-company continuing vocational training activities on relatively few employees (and then usually on skilled workers and managerial employees) and primarily on short-term updating measures. Furthermore, these measures are relatively expensive. Germany is also no higher than the European average in its level of professionalisation of continuing vocational training in enterprises.

Even when in-company continuing vocational training in Germany is in a comparably poor state, German enterprises are cognizant of how important lifelong learning is. The German survey conducted to supplement CVTS 2 (2000)¹⁶ shows that only 15% of enterprises strictly limit their continuing vocational training to operational objectives or view lifelong learning as the individual's job. Thirty-three per cent are mindful of the importance of lifelong learning and feel it is indispensable, another 53% are also aware of the importance of lifelong learning but give centre stage to operational goals.

This gives rise to a paradoxical situation: On the one hand, the state of continuing vocational training in Germany is poor compared to other countries and could negatively impact Germany's competitive strength if it doesn't improve. On the other hand, lifelong learning and continuing vocational training enjoy high levels of acceptance among the German population and in German enterprises. This fuels the hope that there is also the will for change. In light of this situation, the German vocational education and training system will be faced with two problems in particular: the current demographic trend and far-reaching changes in the working world.

The demographic trend:¹⁷ The changes in the age structures of most EU Member States go hand-in-hand with a decline in population size. In Germany, this development will set in starting the year 2010. Broken down by age, the composition of the labour force will also see radical change. The share held by the middle age cohort of 35- to 54-year-olds will shrink whereas the share of 55- to 64-year-olds will grow noticeably. The share of 55- to 64-year-olds will already be larger starting from the year 2010 - and will peak in size between the years 2020 and 2030. In most EU Member States, this age cohort's share of the potential labour force will be greatest during these years. The share that 55- to 64-year-olds represent in the labour force will grow the most in Germany.¹⁸ Those persons who are between 30 and 50 years of age today will be the most impacted by the effects arising from this trend. If these individuals are to cope with these effects they must prepare now - through even more continuing vocational training measures, for example - for the challenges these effects will bring.

Population projections for the years 2005 - 2050
Percentage change in the share of 55- to 64-year-olds out of the total potential labour force (share of 55- to 64-year-olds in the year 2005 = 100%)
¹⁹

Quelle: Eurostat, Bevölkerungsvorausschätzung, Basisvariante

Changes in the working world:²⁰ The working world is changing more and more - and working lives are increasingly shaped by ever more flexible gainful employment, atypical employment relationships and periods of unemployment. All jobs that deviate from full-time indefinite-term employment ("normal employment") - in other words, not just part-time employment or marginal part-time employment but also fixed-term employment contracts, consecutive short-term employment contracts, temporary-agency contracts, homework and the like - are classified as atypical forms of gainful employment. Internationally, normal employment currently continues to predominate. However the latest European findings are already showing sizable differences between individual European countries.²¹ Seniority²² already varies considerably across Europe. The findings from the Fourth European Working Conditions Survey show that at 10.2% Germany takes midfield in European rankings with regard to seniority (EU15 average: 9.8%). Belgium and Italy report the highest seniority rates (12.0% and 11.8% respectively), while Denmark and Great Britain have the lowest (7.9% and 7.5% respectively).²³ Individual European countries also exhibit considerable differences with respect to atypical employment.²⁴ We have calculated an index value for normal employment which also shows Germany in midfield among European countries (the index value for normal employment is 72% for Germany and 80% for Portugal but 67.5% and 60.7% for Denmark and the Netherlands respectively). These findings show that in Europe seniority and normal employment dominate more in Germany than in Scandinavian countries or the Netherlands.

However, it is already possible to identify different groups on the labour market in Germany whose risk of having gaps in their occupational biography has increased substantially in recent years - such groups include unemployed persons, older workers, women and young people who have not completed formal vocational training. The latest findings from the Institute for Employment Research show that occupational biographies without gaps have already become more seldom among younger workers (and particularly among young male workers) today.²⁵ It is expected that the trend toward occupational biographies with gaps will increase further in the future. Parallel to this, previously acquired qualifications and experience will lose value - as a result of periods or unemployment or involuntary re-orientation, for example. Consequently, remaining with one and the same employer throughout one's entire working life (seniority) will tend to be the exception to the rule in the future. On the other hand, this situation will require people to be willing to be mobile in both occupational and geographical terms and to acquire new vocational skills during the course of their lives - in other words, this will require the individual to be and remain employable.

In Germany, employability particularly exhibits an incongruity between societal demands for individuals to be independent and be responsible for their own continuing training on the one hand and the special conditions underlying continuing vocational training in the country on the other. The most important area of continuing vocational training - namely, continuing vocational training in enterprises - is dominated by ad hoc and short-term continuing training measures (primarily updating measures). Such measures can contribute little to ensuring or improving employability for the following reasons:

• There is a tendency to underinvest in continuing vocational training in enterprises because the responsibility for teaching skills that are applicable industry-wide gets shifted onto other actors.²⁶
• The content of continuing vocational training in enterprises largely focuses on short-term company-specific goals. This makes it difficult to use the skills acquired through continuing vocational training one day at other companies. Since being able to use the outcomes of in-company learning (achieved not only through internal or external company training activities but also through "other" forms of in-company learning) at other enterprises is not particularly in the interests of the individual company providing the training, and the public authorities are also not getting involved, the share of certified continuing vocational training measures is very small.

Top of the page

Continuing training participation and selectivity

When evaluating continuing vocational training, participation in continuing training and the analysis of differences in access to continuing vocational training ("selectivity") are important areas for examination. In this connection, inequalities or differences in access to continuing vocational training in enterprises are due first and foremost to the particular qualities of the individual enterprise on the one hand and to the particular qualities of the individual worker on the other.

As previously mentioned, according to the Special Eurobarometer from 2006²⁷only 23% of the German population attended continuing vocational training classes during the preceding 12 months. This gave Germany 13th place among the then 25 EU Member States. Participation in non-formal initial and continuing vocational training²⁸ is lower in Germany than the EU25 average, as the ad hoc Lifelong Learning module to the European Labour Force Survey for the year 2003 found.²⁹ The average EU25 participation rate for 25- to 64-year-olds is 17%. Germany reports a participation rate of only 13%.³⁰ According to 9th Berichtssys¬tem Wei¬terbildung continuing vocational training report (BSW IX),³¹ the rate of participation in continuing vocational trainingmeasures among 19- to 64-year-olds fell from 29% in 2000 to 26% in 2003. The findings from the second European Continuing Vocational Training Survey also confirm that these participation rates are low compared to other countries. By European standards, Germany's participation rate is below average (16th place). ³²

Looking at the CVTS 2 findings, the 25 CVTS countries can be divided into four groups based on their respective participation rates for continuing vocational training in enterprises.³³

• With a participation rate of more than 50%, the first group is essentially composed of the Nordic countries and a few West European countries. These are, in the order of their ranking, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Ireland, France and the United Kingdom.
• Posting participation rates of 40% to 49%, the second group consists of, in the order or their ranking, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Italy, Slovenia, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.
• The third group with participation rates of 30% to 39% contains Germany, Austria, Greece and Poland.
• The fourth group with participation rates of less than 30% brings up the rear and is comprised of, in the order of their ranking, the following countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania. The participation rate of the last two countries is only 20%.

As already mentioned, 13% of all 25- to 64-year-olds in Germany participated in non-formal initial or continuing vocational training in 2003 according to the ad hoc Lifelong Learning module to the European Labour Force Survey. The differences between men's and women's participation levels in Germany were small, with men (13% participation rate) attending continuing training measures somewhat more often than women (12%). The EU25 average exhibits virtually no differences (less than 0.1 percentage points). However, women's participation rates were higher than men's in 16 countries. Women in the three Baltic countries, Finland and Sweden were much more active in continuing training than men.

According to the Berichtssystem Weiterbildung continuing vocational training report, the participation rate for in-company continuing vocational training³⁴ in Germany was 26%³⁵ in 2003. At 28%, men participated more frequently in continuing vocational training than women (24%). The private and occupational situation (activity rate, employment status, occupational position, formal qualifications and family situation) of women in particular must be taken into account here. Within comparable groups, women often participate somewhat more often than men in continuing vocational training in enterprises.

CVTS 2 shows that women in Germany are somewhat underrepresented incontinuing vocational training in enterprises. The participation rate for women is 33%, whereas 38% of male employees participated in corresponding activities. Looking at gender differences in participation rates according to company size, there are no discernible differences in men's and women's participation rates in small enterprises. In large enterprises, women's participation rates are considerably lower than the men's. There are sizable differences in men's and women's participation rates in the individual sectors of the economy - due, inter alia, to differences in the job profiles of men and women in these industries. ³⁶

For the year 2003, the ad hoc Lifelong Learning module that supplemented the European Labour Force Survey ascertained that participation in continuing vocational training drops sharply with increasing age. In Germany, just under 16% of 25- to 44-year-olds participate in non-formal continuing training. By contrast, this figure is only 6% ³⁷among 55- to 64-year-olds. 

The Berichtssystem Weiterbildung continuing vocational training report also shows that people who are 50 years of age or older participate markedly less often in continuing vocational training measures than younger people. For example, in 2003 the participation rate for this age cohort was only 17%, compared to 31% for the 35- to 49-year-old age group. Looking only at gainfully employed persons rather than the entire population, the differences between the participation rates of the individual age cohorts are smaller. In 2003, the participation rate for continuing vocational training in enterprises was 37% for 19- to 34-year-olds, 35% for 35- to 49-year-olds and 29% for 50- to 64-year-olds.³⁸

CVTS 1 (1993)³⁹ already showed that 25- to 35-year-olds are the most important target group for continuing vocational training in enterprises. Employee participation rates for in-company continuing training courses increase up to the age of 35. The participation rate for persons who are 46 years of age or older is only half the rate seen in the age cohort of 25- to 35-year-olds, the age group that is most active in continuing vocational training. The CVTS 1 study also showed that the likelihood of participation in in-company continuing training courses increases in tandem with the individual's occupational status within their company. The participation rate of managerial personnel was six times the rate reported for unskilled and semi-skilled workers.

The above findings show that it is necessary to increase participation in continuing vocational training across the board and to mobilise the willingness and ability of previously disadvantaged groups to participate in continuing training measures in order to limit the massive "sorting out" of these groups seen in the past.

Top of the page

Segmentation of continuing vocational training in Germany

Enterprises, individuals and public authorities (in particular, the federal government, Land governments and the Federal Employment Agency) do not necessarily have the same objectives when it comes to continuing vocational training. In the case of enterprises, meeting their needs for skilled workers and the continual updating of skills to keep pace with technological change and changes in the way work is organised take centre stage. For individuals, continuing vocational training is primarily a means for expanding one's skills, furthering one's personal development and safeguarding and improving one's occupational situation. However individuals are willing to participate in continuing training only when they feel that these goals can be achieved and that their investment - in the form of time, money and effort - is reasonable in terms of their goals. The government's interest in continuing vocational training focuses on the one hand on maintaining and fostering trade and industry's competitive strength and innovativeness. On the other hand, it is also concerned with coping with enormous labour market problems and ensuring societal cohesion, a task that includes fostering equal opportunities.

Based on Sauter,⁴⁰ continuing vocational training can essentially be broken down into three areas:

• The area of continuing vocational training in enterprises,
• The area of continuing vocational training that is organised by the individual,
• The area of continuing training for unemployed persons and workers who are at risk of becoming unemployed; this type of training is provided as part of active labour market policies.

EU Member States can be classified according to whether their continuing vocational training system is geared more towards collaboration - with the individual areas of continuing vocational training being meshed with one another at institutional level - or whether it tends to be segmented, with an institutional separation of the individual areas of continuing vocational training. For example, in Denmark and the Netherlands, the stakeholders in the area of continuing vocational training - in other words, the government, enterprises, trade unions, individuals and training providers - are integrated in various ways into a complex system of combined responsibility for continuing vocational training. By contrast, in countries like Germany and Austria, responsibility for continuing vocational training lies with the respective players themselves: In these countries, the government is responsible for providing continuing training for unemployed persons and for workers who are at risk of becoming unemployed. Enterprises are responsible for in-company continuing vocational training and the individual is responsible for his or her own continuing vocational training. The subsidiarity principle (in other words, bearing responsibility in one's own particular area) is very strong in Germany. This institutional segmentation of the various areas of continuing vocational training also establishes the structural conditions for the implementation of continuing vocational training. In contrast to the situation in, for example, Denmark or the Netherlands, the structural conditions in Germany limit the possibilities for efficiently implementing vocational training. Responsibility in continuing vocational training - which must meet the demands of the concept of lifelong learning - must be coordinated in such a way that it overcomes this segmentation of responsibility.  

Top of the page

Conditions for lifelong learning

In light of the radical structural changes taking place in the working world, the underlying conditions for lifelong learning need to be improved in Germany. The answer to these structural changes can only be found in integrated labour market and training policies, as demonstrated by, for example, the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands. In these countries, structural changes in the working world provided the starting points for labour market and education reforms. These structural changes can be summed up with the catchwords demographic trends, the erosion of continuous lifelong employment, the spread of flexible employment, atypical employment and increased job-related mobility. Integrated labour market and training policies in the above countries are increasingly being based on the principle of "flexicurity".⁴¹ The flexicurity principle views today's accelerated structural change as a fundamental fact - a fact for which adequate solutions must be developed in the labour market. Flexicurity is defined as a combination of flexible labour markets and a high level of social security. The aim of flexicurity is to find a balance between these two elements - flexibility and social security.

Underlying conditions are very important when initiating integrated labour market and training policies. These conditions include policies that foster institutional cooperation in the area of continuing vocational training. A general national rule for granting leave for training purposes - as Denmark has had for some years now - is a key prerequisite for effectively and efficiently realising integrated labour market and training policies and combined continuing training measures. At the same time, rules for granting training leave are an important element for continuing vocational training. These rules incorporate not only instruments such as education savings schemes but also the so-called substitution principle, in other words, granting an employee leave for a longer period and, at the same time, employing an unemployed individual as their substitute. Compared to the situation in Germany, the options for granting leave in Scandinavian countries are much different in terms of the duration of leave and the way such leave can be used. These leave arrangements make it clear that it is not enough to introduce individual instruments such as education savings schemes, education bonuses, education vouchers or tax breaks on an isolated basis or to selectively amend existing legislation in Germany - such as by incorporating the substitution principle. The proposals made for amending Book III of the Social Code were not at all adequate for, for example, integrating the instrument of job rotation into continuing vocational training on a lasting basis. Instead, national rules of this type should incorporate a mix of policy measures and instruments.⁴²

Looking at the current situation in Germany, it is clear that an integrated employment and training policy cannot be established on the basis of existing legislation (such as educational leave acts), pilot projects or even the selective amendment of labour laws, even though such amendments are naturally to be welcomed in terms of policy implementation and societal discourse. In this connection, the social partners are particularly important because they can act as a motor to drive the progressive development of legal provisions and instruments. In addition to continuing vocational training that is provided for under collective agreements, it is apparent that regional networks in the area of active labour market and training policies are becoming increasingly important in many EU Member States.

Top of the page

Continuing vocational training that is regulated under collective agreements

Initial and continuing vocational training that is organised through sector-specific collective agreements offers a promising means for supporting a national-level umbrella arrangement on granting leave for continuing training purposes. The example offered by the Netherlands shows that you do not have to have a legislated national framework like the one in France in order to support continuing vocational training through a fund system.⁴³ Collective agreements in the Netherlands contain provisions that go beyond simple collective agreements on wages. These provisions - for "social funds" - constitute an important link between economic processes in society and the regulation of social processes (e.g., labour market, social security, initial and continuing vocational training). In the Netherlands, so-called O&O funds for initial and continuing vocational training evolved as a type of social fund. The tasks of an O&O fund include funding the continuing training of workers in the particular sector, supporting initial dual vocational training and fostering employment. Sectoral O&O funds are also supporting a growing number of training measures for workers who switch to another sector. These education funds can spur workers to invest in training and can offset training costs. By contributing a fixed amount toward financing training measures, all enterprises in the particular sector help solve training problems within their industry. Almost all these funds are financed through a specified percentage of the individual company's payroll (between 0.1% and 3%). The number of sector-specific funds grew to 99 by the year 2002, reaching more than 40% of all wage and salary earners (approximately 2.5 million employees). The annual total of the sectoral funds grew to € 600 million, two-thirds of which were used for in-company continuing training measures, dual vocational training and employment projects. At € 250 million, measures in the area of continuing vocational training in enterprises represent the most important expenditure category. Sector-specific education funds are an important instrument for assisting and fostering continuing vocational training in small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, these education funds now cover many more different forms of continuing training measures than they did during their initial phase. Today, not just "special" continuing training measures are being recognised and certified; one-quarter of the sector-specific funds are presently also financing more "general" training measures. Nearly one out of every five funds already certifies job-related forms of continuing vocational training and work experience. These certificates are recognised industry-wide. Once a collective agreement has been finalised, the government subsequently declares it and the social funds (including the education funds) it contains to be generally binding for the respective branch.

Initial and continuing vocational training that is regulated by collective agreements and organised by the respective industry has not been customary in Germany to date. One exception to this rule however is the arrangement for initial and continuing vocational training in the scaffolding industry.⁴⁴ The training offered in this sector was unique in Germany in terms of how its content was organised (by the social partners) and the method used to finance it (through a fund). In 1981 the parties to the collective agreement in the scaffolding industry agreed on a collective funding system in order to solve the sector's particular continuing training problems (the skill levels of the workers in the scaffolding industry were not on par with the level of technical progress). Collectively agreed social security and assistance benefits and the costs of vocational training are financed through the scaffolding industry's so-called Sozialkasse (social security benefits office). In the scaffolding industry, labour and management themselves control and regulate both initial vocational training and continuing vocational training. The entire construction industry in Germany began using the above Sozialkasse model in 1987. The main emphasis however is on in-company initial vocational training. Assistance for continuing vocational training in enterprises was just added in recent years. All firms in the construction industry must pay an assessment (1.2% of their total payroll) to a collection agency. The Sozialkassen in the construction industry partially reimburse the remuneration and social security costs that participating enterprises pay during training activities. They also finance inter-company training centres in the construction industry. The agricultural and forestry sectors have also been using a fund solution since 1991 to finance the initial, continuing and advanced vocational training of employees working in agricultural or forestry enterprises. For some time now, the IG Metall union in particular has set its sights on new initiatives to collectively regulate continuing vocational training in enterprises. The metal-working and electrical sectors in Baden-Württemberg and the textile and clothing industry in western Germany have signed collective agreements on training in recent years; these agreements take different approaches.⁴⁵ During the 2006 round of wage negotiations, the IG Metall union and management worked out a collective agreement on training.⁴⁶ Negotiating collective agreements on training however still gives rise to disputes between labour and management. The question of whether continuing vocational training should be regulated by collective agreements is a contentious point for employers. All studies⁴⁷ show that enterprises discuss and examine the subject of continuing vocational training more intensely as a result of collective agreement on training.  

Top of the page

Regional training networks

Interventionist measures by the central government are becoming less and less relevant in the wake of globalisation, Europeanisation and the increasingly different demands being placed on government. It can be assumed that centrally directing or regulating complex, highly-industrialised service societies will become increasingly difficult. A new "policy model" is not only becoming increasingly evident, it is also becoming increasingly necessary: This model uses "policy networks" as a new "political instrument" for implementing policies. Creating networks also encompasses a relatively "new" form of integrating societal stakeholders into policy implementation. This does not mean comprehensive integration but rather integration that takes the relative independence of societal stakeholders as its starting point. The regionalisation of policies and the inclusion of institutions found outside central government (first and foremost enterprises, employers' associations, trade unions and municipalities) in (regional) political decision-making processes are some of the new dimensions of this "policy model". This new approach has already been introduced at international level (EU and OECD) in the area of active labour market and training policies with measures that assist "learning regions" (ESF assistance for target regions) and require certain activities from them in return.⁴⁸ Regional and local development conditions are also receiving increasing attention in Germany, often in the context of "location policy" [ regional economic policy aimed at making an area more attractive to investors and industry] debates. Depending on how they were set up, policy networks are exogenous or endogenous. Exogenous policy networks are usually started by government institutions for the purpose of supporting the implementation of interventionist government measures. Endogenous policy networks are collaborative relations between individuals/organisations and are initiated to deal with socio-economic/political problems in the particular region. It is evident in some EU Member States (such as Denmark and the Netherlands) that regional training networks - both endogenous and exogenous networks - are very successful in implementing active labour market and training policies. A prerequisite for this however is "active networking" that brings a win-win situation for all regional stakeholders. However, "active networking" of this type usually functions along an interface between cooperation and conflict. The specific conditions underlying the interaction between the regional players and the potential for coordination or conflict that is specific to the particular region must be taken into account in this connection. Successful training strategies in a region should build on relations that already exist between regional actors and on their know-how and expertise. This type of regional network is particularly important for small and medium-sized enterprises because SMEs usually do not have an overview of training needs and requirements and do not have sufficient resources for training their employees. This type of regional support structure particularly fosters and assists training-related advisory services for small and medium-sized enterprises.⁴⁹

footnotes:

01 Revised version of the comments submitted in reply to the list of questions used for the hearing conducted by the Bundestag Committee for Education, Research and Technology Impact Assessment held on 29 January 2007 in Berlin on the subject of Lifelong Learning - Needs and Funding. The replies of the other participants in the hearing can be found in German at http://webarchiv.bundestag.de/archive/2007/0307/ausschuesse/a18/anhoerungen/Stellungnahmen/index.html. The verbatim report of the hearing is available in German at http://www.netzwerk-weiterbildung.info/upload/m45f6a01bb9fa3_verweis1.pdf
02 Wagner, P. (2000): Zukunftsreport demografischer Wandel. Mit Älteren gegen Fachkräftemangel und Innovationsschwäche. In: IAB Materialien 4/2000, p.4-5. Pack, J.; Buck, H.; Kistler, E. et al. (2000): Zukunftsreport demografischer Wandel. Innovationsfähigkeit in einer alternden Gesellschaft. Bonn. URL: www.demotrans.de/documents/Zukunft-dt.pdf [Retrieval date: 11 May 2007]. Bellmann, L.; Bielenski, H.; Bilger, F. et al. (2006): Personalbewegungen und Fachkräfterekrutierung. Ergebnisse des IAB-Betriebspanels 2005 (IAB Forschungsbericht research report No. 11/2006). Bonin, H.; Schneider, M.; Quinke, H. et al. (2007): Zukunft von Bildung und Arbeit. Perspektiven von Arbeitskräftebedarf und -angebot bis 2020 (IZA Report No. 9). Bonn.
03 For a detailed explanation of the following data, please see Beicht, U.; Berger, K.; Moraal D. (2005): Aufwendungen für berufliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland. In: Sozialer Fortschritt, Issue 10-11/2005, p. 256-266.
04 There is no common reference year for the expenditure effected by the different funding sources. The results here are based on surveys and calculations from the years 1999-2004.
05 Grünewald, U.; Moraal, D. (1995): Kosten der betrieblichen Weiterbildung in Deutschland. Ergebnisse und kritische Anmerkungen. Bonn/Berlin. Moraal, D. (2004): Gesamtausgaben für die berufliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland. In: BIBBforschung, Vol. 5, Issue 4. Moraal, D.; Schönfeld, G. (2005): Deutschland, Frankreich, Niederlande - drei Modelle der Finanzierung betrieblicher Weiterbildung. In: Faulstich, P.; Bayer, M. (Ed.): Lerngelder: Für öffentliche Verantwortung in der Weiterbildung. Hamburg 2005, p. 48-64.
06 Dohmen, D.; Hoi, M. (2003): Bildungsaufwand in Deutschland - Eine erweiterte Konzeption des Bildungsbudgets. Cologne.
07 Beicht, U. (2005): Berufliche Weiterbildung von Frauen und Männern in Ost- und Westdeutschland. Bielefeld (Forschung spezial Issue 10). Beicht, U.; Krekel, E. M.; Walden, G. (2004): Berufliche Weiterbildung - welche Kosten tragen die Teilnehmer? In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis, Issue 2, p. 39-43. Beicht, U.; Krekel, E. M.; Walden, G. (2004): Berufliche Weiterbildung - welchen Nutzen haben die Teilnehmer? In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis, Issue 5, p. 5-9. Beicht, U.; Krekel, E. M.; Walden, G. (2006): Berufliche Weiterbildung - welche Kosten und welchen Nutzen haben die Teilnehmenden? Bielefeld (Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung 274).
08 Berger, K. (2004): Der Beitrag der öffentlichen Hand zur Finanzierung beruflicher Bildung. Bielefeld (Forschung Spezial Issue 9).
09 Beicht, U.; Berger, K.; Moraal D. (2005): Aufwendungen für berufliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland. In: Sozialer Fortschritt, Issue 10-11/2005, p. 264 and, in more detail: Berger, K. (2005): Öffentliche Ausgaben zur Förderung der beruflichen Weiterbildung. In Federal Institute of Vocational Education and Training (Ed.): Kosten, Nutzen, Finanzierung beruflicher Weiterbildung. Ergebnisse der BIBB-Fachtagung vom 2. und 3. Juni 2005 in Bonn (findings from the BIBB conference held on 2-3 June 2005 in Bonn). Bielefeld, p. 187. The authors did not publish the absolute percentages of the supplementary estimate because they just want to draw attention to the likelihood that previous estimates inadequately reflect the actual breakdown between the individual funding sources for continuing vocational training..
10 Grünewald U.; Moraal, D.; Schönfeld, G. (Ed.): Betriebliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland und Europa. Bonn 2003 and Eurostat (Ed.) (2002): European social statistics. Continuing vocational training survey (CVTS 2). Data 1999. Luxembourg.
11 Grünewald, U.; Moraal, D. (2003): Zur Leistungsfähigkeit der betrieblichen Weiterbildung in Deutschland - Ergebnisse der zweiten europäischen Weiterbildungserhebung. Gutachten im Rahmen der Berichterstattung zur technologischen Leistungsfähigkeit Deutschlands. Bonn (Studien zum deutschen Innovationssystem No. 4 - 2003).
12 European Commission (Ed.) (2006): European Employment and Social Policy. Special Eurobarometer 261. Brussels. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs261_en.pdf [Retrieval date: 11 May 2007]. .
13 The local population and citizens of all EU Member States who were resident in Germany and were at least 15 years of age were interviewed.
14 See footnote 10.
15 Norway and all 27 of today's EU Member States with the exception of Malta, Cyprus and Slovakia participated in CVTS 2. 
16 Grünewald U.; Moraal, D.; Schönfeld, G. (2003): Ergebnisse der Zusatzerhebung zur zweiten europäischen Weiterbildungserhebung in Deutschland. In: Grünewald, U.; Moraal, D.; Schönfeld, G. (Ed.): Betriebliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland und Europa. Bonn, p. 99-200.
17 See the Leonardo II project Continuing Vocational Training for Older Employees in SMEs and the Development of Regional Support Structures (AgeQual), URL: http://www.bibb.de/en/19230.htm [Retrieval date: 11 May 2007], there inter alia Moraal, D.; Schönfeld, G. (2006): Main features of age-oriented policies in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands (Synthesis report). Bonn. URL: http://www.bibb.de/dokumente/pdf/BIBB-synthesisreport-final.pdf [Retrieval date: 22 February 2007]
18 In Germany, the share of the age cohort of 55- to 64-year-olds will increase by 34 index points between 2005 and 2030 (see following chart). Out of 29 European countries, only Slovenia, Poland and Spain will slightly exceed Germany's figures; Sweden is the only country in which the share of 55- to 64-year-olds will actually decline slightly.
19 The countries represented in the chart participated in the Leonardo II project Continuing Vocational Training for Older Employees in SMEs and the Development of Regional Support Structures (AgeQual) (see footnote 17).
20 Moraal, D. (2001): The employability concept. A new perspective for the continuing vocational training for employees and unemployed? URL: http://www.theknownet.com/xml/VET_Market/54155756/top_fs.html [Retrieval date: 22 February 2007] and Kraus, K. (2006): Vom Beruf zur Employability? Zur Theorie einer Pädagogik des Erwerbs. Wiesbaden.
21 The following information is based on the findings of the Fourth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) published by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working conditions (EUROFOUND) in 2007. These surveys have been conducted every five years since 1991. Some 30,000 workers from 31 European countries were interviewed on various aspects of their working and employment conditions for the latest EWCS (EWCS 4, 2006). See European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Ed.) (2007): Fourth European Working Conditions Survey. Luxembourg (http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/2006/98/en/2/ef0698en.pdf [Retrieval date: 18 June 2007]).
22 The question in the EWCS 4 was: "How many years have you been in your company or organisation?" This question can be seen as an approximation of the German term Betriebsbindung (seniority). Cf. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Ed.) (2007): Fourth European Working Conditions Survey. Luxembourg, p. 112.
23 European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Ed.) (2007): Fourth European Working Conditions Survey. Luxembourg, p. 102
24 We have used the mathematical average of the following structural variables for national labour markets in Europe in order to arrive at an approximation of atypical employment: "Temporary contracts, % of workforce" and "Part-time work, % of workforce" (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Ed.) (2007): Fourth European Working Conditions Survey. Luxembourg, p. 4). We used the following questions from the Fourth European Working Conditions Survey: Question 1: "How many days per week do you usually work in your main paid job? and "Do you work....? A. The same number of hours every day. B. The same number of hours every week. C. Fixed starting and finishing time." .
25 "It can generally be said that men from the youngest cohorts (1960s) are much more affected by increasing discontinuity than the two middle cohorts (1940s and 1950s)." Dundler, A.; Müller, D. (2006): Erwerbsverläufe im Wandel. Ein Leben ohne Arbeitslosigkeit - nur noch eine Fiktion? IAB Kurzbericht No. 27 /22 December 2006, p. 4
26 Sauter, E. (1989): Ansätze für eine Neuorientierung der beruflichen Weiterbildung. In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis 3, p. 3-8. Faulstich, P.; Bayer, M. (Ed.) (2005): Lerngelder: Für öffentliche Verantwortung in der Weiterbildung. Hamburg.
27 See footnote12.
28 Non-formal education encompasses all types of instruction that cannot be attributed to the formal education system. In this connection, general education and vocational training provided through the regular school system, at universities and universities of applied sciences are considered formal education..
29 Eurostat, Ad hoc module on Lifelong Learning 2003. See Kailis, E.; Pilos, S. (2005): Lifelong Learning in Europe. In: Eurostat (Ed.): Statistics in focus, Population and Social Conditions 8/2005.
30 Germany thus placed 16th out of the 27 EU Member States. At more than 40%, participation rates were very high in the Scandinavian countries in particular. By contrast, less than 10% of the 25- to 64-year-olds in most Eastern and Southern European countries participated in non-formal continuing training measures.
31 Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Hrsg.) (2006): Berichtssystem Weiterbildung IX.
Integrierter Gesamtbericht zur Weiterbildungssituation in Deutschland. Bonn / Berlin.
32 See footnote 10.
33 Teilnahmequote in Unternehmen, die Lehrveranstaltungen anbieten (1999). See Eurostat (Ed.) (2002): European social statistics. Continuing vocational training survey (CVTS 2). Data 1999. Luxembourg, p. 64-65, 136.
34 Persons who have attended one or more of the following types of courses are considered participants in continuing vocational training: retraining, upgrading training, familisation, continuing updating training and other courses in one's occupational field.
35 Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Ed.) (2006): Berichtssystem Weiterbildung IX. Integrierter Gesamtbericht zur Weiterbildungssituation in Deutschland. Bonn / Berlin, p. 120-134.
36Schönfeld, G.; Moraal, D. (2006): Beteiligung von Frauen an betrieblicher Weiterbildung im internationalen Vergleich - Ergebnisse der zweiten europäischen Weiterbildungserhebung. In: Granato, M.; Degen, U. (Ed.): Berufliche Bildung von Frauen. Bonn, p. 226 - 244 (Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung 278).
37 See footnote 29.
38 Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Ed.) (2006): Berichtssystem Weiterbildung IX. Integrierter Gesamtbericht zur Weiterbildungssituation in Deutschland. Bonn / Berlin, p. 90-103..
39 Grünewald, U.; Moraal, D. (1996): Betriebliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland. Gesamtbericht. Ergebnisse aus drei empirischen Erhebungsstufen einer Unternehmensbefragung im Rahmen des EG-Aktionsprogrammes FORCE. Bielefeld..
40 Sauter, E. (1989): Ansätze für eine Neuorientierung der beruflichen Weiterbildung. In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis 3, p. 3-8.
41 Bredgaard, T.; Larsen, F. (Ed.) (2005): Employment policy from different angles. Copenhagen. .
42 Grünewald, U.; Moraal, D. (Ed.) (1998): Modelle zur Finanzierung der beruflichen Weiterbildung Beschäftigter und Arbeitsloser. Dokumentation eines LEONARDO-Projektes mit Beteiligung von Dänemark, Deutschland, den Niederlanden und Norwegen. (Documentation to a Leonardo project with the participation of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway) Bielefeld
43 Moraal, D.; Schönfeld, G. (2005): Deutschland, Frankreich, Niederlande - drei Modelle der Finanzierung betrieblicher Weiterbildung. In: Faulstich, P.; Bayer, M. (Ed.): Lerngelder: Für öffentliche Verantwortung in der Weiterbildung. Hamburg, p. 48-64.
44 Moraal, D.; Schmidt, G. (1998): Die Sozialkasse im Gerüstbaugewerbe: Ein tarifvertraglich geregeltes Finanzierungsmodell der Aus- und Weiterbildung. In: Grünewald, U.; Moraal, D. (Ed.): Modelle zur Finanzierung der beruflichen Weiterbildung Beschäftigter und Arbeitsloser. Dokumentation eines LEONARDO-Projektes mit Beteiligung von Dänemark, Deutschland, den Niederlanden und Norwegen (Documentation to a Leonardo project with the participation of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway). Bielefeld, p. 122-130.
45 Bahnmüller R.; Fischbach, S.; Jentgens, B. (2005): Die Qualifizierungstarifverträge für die baden-württembergische M+E-Industrie und die westdeutsche T+B-Industrie: Konzepte, Umsetzung, Wirkungen und Konsequenzen, paper held at the conference "Was nützen und bewirken Qualifizierungstarifverträge" on 11 November 2005 in Stuttgart-Filderstadt. URL: http://www.fatk.uni-tuebingen.de/files/tagung_qtvs.pdf [Retrieval date: 22 February 2007]. Ver.di / IG Metall (2005): Berufliche Weiterbildung - eine Gestaltungsaufgabe für Tarifverträge. Eine gemeinsame Diskussion von Ver.di und IG Metall. Workshop held on 10/11 February 2005 in Berlin. URL: http://berufsbildungspolitik.verdi.de/copy_of_infopool/publikationen/data/Tagungsdokumentation.pdf [Retrieval date: 14 May2007].
46 IG Metall: Tarifvertrag zur Qualifizierung in Nordrhein-Westfalen (collective agreement on training in North Rhine-Westphalia) from 22 April 2006. URL: http://www.igmetall.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0A342C90-ABD2C197/internet/style.xsl/view_13416.htm [Retrieval date: 22 March 2007]..
47 See footnote 45.
48 For Germany, see http://www.lernende-regionen.info. The OWL Regionet in eastern Westphalia-Lippe is one example for a successful training network (http://www.regionet-owl.de/home).
49 See inter alia the Leonardo II project Continuing Vocational Training for Older Employees in SMEs and the Development of Regional Support Structures (AgeQual - http://www.bibb.de/en/19230.htm); Dobischat, R.; Husemann, R. (2001): Aufbruch zu neuen Allianzen - Klein- und Mittelbetriebe und Bildungsträger als Kooperationspartner? Zur Problematik einer fragilen Beziehung. In: Bolder., A.; Heinz, W.R.; Kutscha, G. (Ed.): Deregulierung der Arbeit - Pluralisierung der Bildung? Opladen, p. 249-262 and Hoß, D.; Schrick, G. (Ed.) (2001): Die Region. Experimentierfeld gesellschaftlicher Innovation. Münster.

Erscheinungsdatum und Hinweis Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

Publication on the Internet: August 23, 2007

URN: urn:nbn:de:0035-0208-3

Deutsche Nationalbibliothek has archived the electronic publication "Continuing Vocational Training in Germany", which is now permanently available on the archive server of Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

Creative Commons License

Content on this page is licensed under the Creative Commons License "Attribution: Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Germany". Further information on this is available on our Creative Commons page (de).
 

Last modified on: November 29, 2011